They have a pretty extensive beer selection, and some pretty tasty cocktails as well. I tried the Tornado Warning, which is basically a Dark & Stormy made with the traditional Black Seal Rum and Black Market's own house made ginger beer, plus a bit of lime. It was super good, and although I generally like more lime in my stormies, this one still had a nice balance of flavors--not too rummy, not too gingery. There was something interesting around the rim of the glass, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what it was! Not straight sugar, that's for sure. But it was good, so I can't complain.
Tim and I opted to split a few dishes rather than each ordering our own stuff. We started with one of that night's specials, mozzarella sticks with tomato sauce ($10, three to an order). First of all, these were the longest mozzarella sticks I've ever seen! Each one was at least a foot long, deep fried, and oozing with delicious melted house made mozzarella. They make good cheese at Black Market. We've had their fresh mozzarella before in various incarnations and are never disappointed. The tomato sauce was great, too--very fresh. Sorry no pictures, but we gobbled them up too quickly!We shared the Duck Confit & Tator Tot Salad ($11) next...pictured is just half of the salad, because I didn't whip out the camera until after we had split it. It's not very pretty in that picture, but man, it was tasty. The duck was meaty and tender, and the apples provided a nice tart contrast. There was also a bit of bacon and roasted tomatoes, and blue cheese which brought it all together. The tator tots were homemade, more of a potato croquette sort of texture, but acted as a slightly crunchy element. Those sat on top of an interesting aioli sort of dressing...it was tangy and tasted good when it was mixed in, although the greens were already dressed with some sort of vinaigrette. You can see one of the tator tots and the aioli in the above pic. So that was a bit confusing, but it tasted good, so again, I'm not going to complain!
Tim and I decided to try the Beef Barbacoa ($25) as our main. Overall, the flavor profile was great, but we did have a few complaints about this one. Here is the description: "Beef Barbacoa. quajillo-puya chile broth / grilled tortillas & lime." Barbacoa is generally slowly cooked, fall-apart tender, shredded meat, so Tim and I both imagined it'd be mostly meat with a bit of broth, and that it'd essentially be a make-your-own taco situation since it came with tortillas. What we got was soup. And it was almost more of a pot roast type meal. Broth (awesome, flavorful, meaty and spicy broth, but still, broth), chunks of meat (and a few pieces of bone), carrots, potatoes, chickpeas...yeah. Not exactly what we had imagined it would be. Come on, people, how about some accurate menu descriptions! Also, even though we told our waitress we'd be splitting it, they didn't put it into two bowls for us. I don't expect that every time I split something--that would get obnoxious--but if the entree is a soup? Come on, throw us a bone (or a bowl, as the case may be). So it was nearly impossible for us to both eat at the same time. Again, it did have great flavor, but it was a downer, for sure. Not the way to end a meal.
I've always had more luck with the starters at Black Market than the entrees. The only entree I can remember loving is the pork schnitzel that used to be on the menu all the time. Hopefully they'll bring it back some day! In the meantime, I'll stick with the starters.
Website: Black Market
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